Apparatus for treating blanks or webs of material



Jan. 24, 1967 T. D BISHOP 3,299,801

APPARATUS FOR TREATING BLANKS OR WEBS 0F MATERIAL Filed April 2, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jan. 24, 1967 T. o. BISHOP 3,

APPARATUS FOR TREATING BLANKS 0R WEBS 0F MATERIAL Filed April 2, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent 3,299,801 APPARATUS FOR TREATING BLANKS 0R WEBS 0F MATERIAL Thomas Desmond Bishop, Solihull, England, assignor to The Deritend Engineering Company Limited, Birmingham, England, a British company Filed Apr. 2, 1965, Ser. No. 445,177 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Nov. 28, 1964,

4 Claims. (Cl. 100-168) This invention relates to apparatus for treating blanks or webs of material particularly high speed cardboardbox-blank making machinery which essentially comprises one or more pairs of treatment rolls or shafts which carry rules, knives, blades, formes or the like for cutting, creasing, scoring, printing or other operation on the board. Due to the alternating and cyclic nature of the operations, the pressure variation on the rolls or shafts is large, and rigidity is highly desirable; otherwise imperfect printing cutting, etc. occurs. Moreover, the rolls are frequently of large diameter, e.g., 14", 22 etc. in order to accommodate the required pattern etc. on the periphery, and if the obvious mechanical expedient is adopted of making the rolls massive in order to avoid deflection when the pressure is high then the inertia and hence time and power needed to reach full working speed is increased, andother penalities are incurred both in cost and efli ciency and also in such far-removed factors as extent and rigidity of foundations for the machine.

Consequently it is desirable to provide other means for reducing deflection without' increasing massivity, i.e. weight and thickness of the rolls and the present invention is aimed at this problem.

In accordance with the invention, the apparatus for treating blanks or webs of material comprises a pair of rolls or shafts each having two co-axial port-ions journalled each in a pair of spaced bearings at each end of each roll or shaft, one of each pair of bearings being displaceable laterally whereby the rolls or shafts may be given a deflection or leading opposite to that anticipated in operation.

Preferably the displaceable bearings are mounted in eccentrics so that rotation of the eccentrics adjusts the bearing positions.

One preferred embodiment of the invention is now more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary and somewhat diagrammatic sectional elevation of an apparatus;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic view corresponding to an elevation in the direction of arrow A, FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary elevation in the direction of arrow B, FIG. 1.

Referring now to the drawings, the apparatus shown therein includes a pair of rolls 10, 11, which for the purposes of illustration are shown considerably shorter in relation to their diameter than would be the case in practice, and moreover have the deflection as induced by the present invention, considerably exaggerated, both for the purposes of better showing the function.

At rest, and with the invention not in use, the axes of rolls 10, 11 would be parallel so that the nip between the rolls would likewise be parallel. In normal running the rolls deflect in the opposite directions to those shown in the drawing so that, without the present invention, the gap between the rolls is greater near the roll centres than at the roll ends.

The present invention counteracts this tendency to deflection by providing for an artificially induced opposite deflection, or loading tending to this, so that the pres- "ice sures may equalise and lead to the theoretical ideal of a truly parallel nip even under load.

To this end, the rolls 10, 11 have respective journal spigots 12, 13 in the case of the upper roll 10 and 14, 15 in the case of the lower roll 11. Each such spigot is journalled in a pair of spaced bearings of any suitable design such as ball or roller bearings, the inner bearings adjacent the rolls being designated by reference 16 and the outer bearings remote from the rolls being designated by reference 17.

The inner race of each bearing is fast with the spigot in each case, and the outer race of each bearing is carried in and housed in a bush. The bushes of top roll 10 are designate-d by references 18, the left hand (in the illustration) of the lower roll 11 by reference 19, and the right hand lower roll bush by reference 20.

All of the bushes 18-20 are journalled for rotation in the apparatus main frame 21. The blushes 19, 20 are eccentric, i.e. their bore and outer periphery are circular but on different axes, although the top roll bushes 18 have concentric bores and outer peripheries. Each one of the four bushes 18-20 is associated with an eccentric, 23 in the case of the upper roll and 22 in the case of the lower roll.

The upper and lower eccentrics 22, 23 may be geared together, or coupled to independent means for adjusting either the top pair or the bottom pair or even individual ones of the eccentrics according to requirements as will be more particularly explained hereinafter.

Spigot 13 and 15 are extended to carry meshed driving gears. The upper roll 10 carries gear pinion 24 fast therewith, and a pair of individually angularly adjustable gear pinions 25, 26 are associated with the lower roll: the angular adjustment enables back-lash to be eliminated as illustrated in FIG. 3. The pinions 25, 26 are mounted and rotatable on an extension 27 of the bush 20 to form a running register. A ring 30 fixed to the pinion 25 is pinned to an Oldham coupling disc 28 at diametrically related positions and the disc is pinned to a driving plate 29 fast with the spigot 15 at further and intermediate positions. The extension 27 is concentric in its eccentricity with the bush 20. The bush 20 has teeth 31 to facilitate rotation.

The operation of the apparatus is as follows: The eccentrics 22 and/or 23 are rotated and the effect is to tilt bus-hes 18-20 according to the eccentrics concerned and direction of turning, because the opposite end of each bush to the end engaged with the eccentric its journalled in the main frame 21 and hence is held relatively stationary: It will be noted that the frame is cut away to allow such tilting: this causes deflection of the individual rolls in the manner illustrated.

Furthermore, the eccentrics can be operated whilst the rolls are rotating so that if the printing impression is imperfect or the cuts not completed for example, due to deflection, adjustment can be made without stopping the machine.

The deflection will be such that the actual roll axis and the true roll axis intersect at the centres of the outer bearings 17. In the case of spigot 15 in particular, this may lead to a marginal deflection of the free end of the spigot, i.e., on the side of the latter opposite to the roll, but this does not affect the gear mesh and the Oldham coupling disc merely adjusts to a new position.

Moreover the adjustment in this manner does not interfere with the normal nip adjustment which is elfected by rotating eccentric bushes 20 and 19 synchronously so as to displace the whole ro'll bodily. Preferably the eccentrics 22 are held against turning so as to avoid such nip adjustment interfering with the roll deflection induced by the said eccentrics.

Whilst differing requirements and circumstances may lead to different designs of machines, it may be desirable to make bushes 18 eccentric as bushes 19, 20, and gear them to bushes 195, 20 as well as gearing the eccentrics 22, 23 together, so that nip adjustment is effected by moving both roll axes and the deflection settings remain undisturbed during such nip adjustment. Again, the running register including the Oldham coupling maintains the mesh unaffected whilst the roll axis spacing is varied since pinion 25-26 may run eccentrieally of roll 11 whilst drive connection is maintained by the Oldham connection.

It will be appreciated that under the majority of normal circumstances simultaneous adjustment of both ends of the rolls will be needed, although occasionally for special purposes the roll loading may be asymmetric and in such case loading a deflection at one end only of one or each roll may be requiredsimilar remarks apply to the nip adjustment.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for treating blanks or webs of material, comprising a pair of rolls each of which has a coaxial portion at each end of the roll, each coaxial portion being journaled in a pair of axially spaced bearings, at least one such pair of bearings being mounted in the opposite ends of a bush, a machine frame in which one end of such bush is mounted for rotation on its axis, and an eccentric in Which the other end of such bush is mounted and which in turn is rotatably mounted in such frame so that angular movement of the eccentric laterally displaces such other end of the bush while twisting of the bush is relieved by rotation of the bush in the machine frame.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the pair of bearings at each end of each roll is mounted in the opposite ends of a bush, the bearings at both ends of at least one roll being eccentrically mounted in the bushes, and a machine frame in which one end of each bush is mounted for rotation on its axis, the other end of each 4 bush being rotatably mounted in an eccentric which in turn is rotatably mounted in the machine frame.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein the rolls are connected by a gear train which keeps the rolls in register and which comprises a gear surrounding the coaxial portion at one end of each roll, each such gear being adjacent to the end of the bush which is rotatably mounted in the machine frame, and at least one such gear being rotatably mounted on the exterior of a bush containing eccentric bearings and being con nected by an Oldham coupling to the roll which is journaled in such eccentric bearings.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the rolls are connected by a gear train which keeps the rolls in register and which comprises a gear surrounding the coaxial portion at one end of each roll, each such gear being adjacent to one end of a bush, which end is mounted for rotation on its axis in the machine frame, the other end of the bush being rotatably mounted in an eccentric which in turn is rotatably mounted in the machine frame, and the coaxial portion of the roll being journaled in a pair of bearings mounted in opposite-ends of the bush. 1

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,085,503 4/1963 Moore 100-.164,X

FOREIGN PATENTS 733,277 7/ 1955 Great Britain. 183,005 7/1936 Switzerland.

OTHER REFERENCES Kent, R. T., ed.: Kents Mechanical Engineering Handbook, 10th ed., N.Y., John Wiley and Sons, 1923, page 1598.

ROBERT B. REEVES, Primary Examiner. 

1. APPARATUS FOR TREATING BLANKS OR WEBS OF MATERIAL, COMPRISING A PAIR OF ROLLS EACH OF WHICH HAS A COAXIAL PORTION AT EACH END OF THE ROLL, EACH COAXIAL PORTION BEING JOURNALED IN A PAIR OF AXIALLY SPACED BEARINGS, AT LEAST ONE SUCH PAIR OF BEARINGS BEING MOUNTED IN THE OPPOSITE ENDS OF A BUSH, A MACHINE FRAME IN WHICH ONE END OF SUCH BUSH IS MOUNTED FOR ROTATION ON ITS AXIS, AND AN ECCENTRIC IN WHICH THE OTHER END OF SUCH BUSH IS MOUNTED AND WHICH IN TURN IS ROTATABLY MOUNTED IN SUCH FRAME SO THAT ANGULAR MOVEMENT OF THE ECCENTRIC LATERALLY DISPLACES SUCH OTHER END OF THE BUSH WHILE TWISTING OF THE BUSH IS RELIEVED BY ROTATION OF THE BUSH IN THE MACHINE FRAME. 